German  American  Literary  Defense  Committee,  183  William  St.,  New  York  City 


The  Present  Crisis  in  Europe. 

By  Prof.  John  W.  Burgess, 

Late  of  Columbia  University. 

This  is  no  time  and  no  subject,  when  or  upon  which,  one  should  speak 
lightly,  ignorantly,  or  with  prejudice.  It  is  one  of  the  world's  most  serious 
moments  and  the  views  and  sympathies  now  formed  will  determine  the  course 
of  the  world's  development  for  many  years  to  come.  Heavy  indeed  is  the 
responsibility  which  he  incurs  who  would  assume  the  role  of  teacher  at  this 
juncture  and  it  is  his  first  duty  to  present  the  credentials  which  warrant 
his  temerity. 

First  of  all,  I  am  an  Anglo-American  of  the  earliest  stock  and  the  most 
pronounced  type.  I  have  existed  here,  potentially  or  actually,  since  the  yeai 
1638,  and  my  European  cousins  of  to-day  are  Squires  and  (  urates  in  Dorset- 
shire. Moreover  I  admire  and  revere  England,  not  only  because  of  what  she 
has  done  for  liberty  and  self-government  at  home,  but  because  she  has  borne 
the  white  man's  burden  throughout  the  world  and  borne  it  true  and  well. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  I  possess  of  higher  learning  has  been  won  in 
Germany.  I  have  studied  in  her  famous  universities  and  bear  their  degrees, 
and  in  three  of  them  have  occupied  the  teacher's  chair.  I  have  lived  ten  years 
of  my  life  among  her  people  and  enjoy  a  circle  of  valued  friendships  which 
extends  from  Konigsberg  to  Strassburg,  from  Hamburg  to  Munich  and  from 
Osnabriick  to  Berchtesgaden,  and  which  reaches  through  all  classes  of  the 
society  from  the  occupant  of  the  throne  to  the  dweller  in  the  humble  cottage. 
I  have  known  personally  four  generations  of  Hohenzollerns  and,  of  the  three 
generations  now  extant,  have  been  brought  into  rather  close  contact  with  the 
members  of  two  of  them.  While  as  to  the  men  of  science,  and  letters,  and 
politics,  who  have  made  the  Germany  of  the  last  half  century,  I  have  known 
them  nearly  all  and  have  sat,  as  student,  at  the  feet  of  many  of  them.  I  must 
concede  that  of  English  descent  though  I  am,  still  I  feel  somewhat  less  at 
home  in  the  motherland  than  in  the  fatherland.  Nevertheless  I  am  conscious 
of  the  impulse  to  treat  each  with  fairness  in  any  account  I  may  attempt  to  give 
of  their  motives,  purposes  and  actions. 

It  was  in  the  year  1871,  in  the  midst  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  that  I 
first  trod  the  soil  of  Germania,  and  it  was  from,  and  with,  those  who  fought 
that  war,  on  the  German  side,  that  I  first  learned  the  politics  and  diplomacy 
of  Europe. 

Almost  from  the  first  day  that  I  took  my  seat  in  the  lecture  room  of  the 
university,  I  imbibed  the  doctrine  that  the  great  national,  international  and 


world  purpose  of  the  newly  created  German  Empire  was  to  protect  and  defend 
the  Teutonic  civilization  of  Continental  Europe  against  the  Oriental  Slavic 
quasi-civilization  on  the  one  side,  and  the  decaying  Latin  civilization  on  the 
other.  After  a  little  while  I  began  to  hear  of  the  "Pan-Slavic  policy"  of 
Russia  and  the  "Revanche  policy"  of  France.  For  a  while  the  latter,  the  policy 
of  France  for  re-taking  Alsace-Lorraine,  occupied  the  chief  attention.  But  in 
1876,  with  the  Russian  attack  upon  the  Turks,  the  Pan-Slavic  policy  of  Russia, 
the  policy  of  uniting  the  Slavs  in  the  German  Empire,  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire  and  in  the  Turkish  Empire  with,  and  under  the  sway  of,  Russia  was 
moved  into  the  foreground.  All  Western  Europe  recognized  the  peril  to 
modern  civilization  and  the  Powers  of  Europe  assembled  at  Berlin  in  1878  to 
meet  and  master  it.  The  astute  British  Premier,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  supported 
by  the  blunt  and  masterful  Bismarck,  directed  the  work  of  the  Congress  and 
the  Pan-Slavic  policy  of  Russia  was  given  a  severe  set-back.  Russia  was 
allowed  to  take  a  little  territory  in  Europe  and  territory  of  greater 
value  in  Asia;  Rumania,  Servia  and  Montenegro  were  made  indepen- 
dent States;  Bulgaria  was  given  an  autonomous  administration  with  a 
European  Christian  Prince,  but  under  the  nominal  suzerainty  of  the  Turkish 
Sultan;  and  the  Turkish  Provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  then  almost 
free  zones  infested  by  bandits,  were  placed  under  Austro-Hungarian  adminis- 
tration, also  subject  to  the  nominal  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan.  With  this  the 
much  suspected  and  dreaded  activities  of  Russia  were  directed'towards  Asia 
and  Russia  was  now  for  more  than  twenty  years,  from  1880  to  1902.  occupied 
chiefly  with  the  extension  of  her  Empire  in  the  Orient. 

The  German  Empire  and  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  were  delivered 
for  the  moment  from  this  great  peril  and  enabled  to  pursue  the  line  of  peace- 
able development  and  progress.  The  greater  security  to  the  Eastern  borders 
of  these  great  States,  thus  established,  also  helped  to  reduce  the  force  of  the 
French  spirit  of  revenge,  as  the  prospect  of  its  satisfaction  became  more  dis- 
tant. It  was  during  this  period,  however,  that  Germany  developed  from  an 
agricultural  to  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  community,  that  is,  became 
a  competitor  of  Great  Britain  and  France,  especially  of  Great  Britain,  in  world 
industry.  Her  marvellous  growth  in  this  direction  excited  soon  the  jealousy, 
the  envy  and  then  the  hostility  of  Great  Britain..  We  in  the  United  States, 
however,  reaped  great  advantage  from  the  industrial  and  commercial  compe- 
tition between  the  two  great  Powers.  We  Americans  were  amused  at  the 
pettishness  of  Great  Brita;n  in  representing  it  as  something  unfair  and  illegiti- 
mate.  We  little  suspected  to  what  direful  results  it  would  lead. 

When  Edward  VII.  came  to  the  throne,  in  the  year  1901,  he  saw  Great 
Britain's  interests  in  the  Orient  threatened  by  Russia's  policy  of  extension  in 
Asia  and  her  commercial  interests  throughout  the  world  threatened  by  the 
active  and  intelligent  competition  of  the  Germans.  He,  as  all  rulers  at  the 
moment  of  accession,  felt  the  ambition  to  do  something  to  relieve  the  disad- 


vantages,  to  say  the  least,  under  which  in  these  respects  his  country  was  labor- 
ing. He  began  that  course  of  diplomacy  for  which  he  won  the  title  of  "peace 
lover."  The  first  element  of  it  was  the  approach  to  Japan  and  the  encourage- 
ment to  Japan  to  resist  the  advance  of  Russia.  This  movement  culminated  in 
the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan  of  the  years  1904-1905,  in  which  Russia  was 
worsted  and  checked  in  the  realization  of  her  Asiatic  policy  and  thrown  back 
upon  Europe.  The  next  element  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  peace  loving  king 
was  the  fanning  into  flame  again  of  the  "Revanche"  spirit  of  France  by  the 
arrangement  of  the  quasi-alliance,  called  the  Entente,  between  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Russia,  aimed  distinctly  and  avowedly  against  what  was  known 
as  the  Triple  Alliance  of  Germany,  Austria  and  Italy,  which  had  for  thirty 
years  kept  the  peace' of  Europe.  The  third  and  last  element  of  this  pacific 
program  was  the  attempted  seduction  of  Italy  from  the  triple  alliance,  by  rous- 
ing the  Irredentist  hopes  for  winning  from  Austria  the  Trent  district  in  South 
Tyrol,  which  Italy  covets. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  call  attention  to  the  extreme  peril  in- 
volved in  this  so-called  peaceful  diplomacy  to  the  German  and  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Empires.  I  myself  became  first  fuliy  aware  of  it  on  the  27th  day  of 
June,  1905.  On  that  day  I  had  an  extended  interview  with  a  distinguished 
British  Statesman  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  London.  I  was  on  my  way 
to  Wilhelmshohe  to  meet  His  Majesty  the  German  Emperor,  to  arrange  with 
His  Majesty  the  cartel  of  exchange  of  educators  between  universities  in  the 
two  countries.  When  I  revealed  this  fact  to  my  host  the  conversation  im- 
mediately took  a  turn  which  made  me  distinctly  feel  that  a  grave  crisis  was 
impending  in  the  relations  of  Great  Britain  to  Germany.  I  was  so  firmly  im- 
pressed by  it,  that  I  felt  compelled  to  call  my  host's  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  great  number  of  American  citizens  of  German  extraction,  the  friendliness 
of  the  German  States  to  the  cause  of  the  Union  during  our  Civil  War,  and  the 
virtual  control  of  American  universities  by  men  educated  at  German  univer- 
sities, would  all  make  for  close  and  continuing  friendship  between  Germany 
and  the  United  States.  When  I  arrived  in  Germany,  I  asked  in  high  quarters 
for  the  explanation  of  my  London  experience  and  was  told  that  it  was  the 
moment  of  greatest  tension  in  the  Morocco  affair,  when  all  feared  that,  at 
British  instigation,  France  would  grasp  the  sword. 

The  larger  part  of  the  next  two  years  I  spent  in  Germany  as  Exchange 
Professor  in  the  three  Universities  of  Berlin,  Bonn  and  Leipzig,  also  as 
lecturer  before  the  Bar  Association  at  Vienna.  Naturally  I  formed  a. really 
vast  circle  of  acquaintance  among  the  leading  men  of  both  Empires,  and  the 
constant  topic  of  conversation  everywhere,  at  all  times  and  among  all  classes, 
was  the  growing  peril  to  Germany  and  Austro-Hungary  of  the  revived  Pan- 
Slavic  policy  and  program  of  Russia,  the  re-inflamed  "Revanche"  of  France 
and  Great  Britain's  intense  commercial  jealousy. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1907,  I  was  again  at  Wilhelmshohe.  The  Imperial 
family  were  at  the  Castle  and  somewhere  about  the  tenth  of  the  month  it 


became  known  that  King  Edward  would  make  the  Emperor  a  visit  or  rather 
a  call,  for  it  was  nothing  more  cordial  than  that,  on  the  14th. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  13th,  the  day  before  the  arrival  of  the  King,  I 
received  a  summons  to  go  to  the  Castle  and  remain  for  dinner  with  the 
Emperor.  When  I  presented  myself,  I  found  the  Emperor  surrounded  by  his 
highest  officials,  Prince  Dulow,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire;  Prince  Hohen- 
lohe,  the  Imperial  Governor  of  Alsace-Lorraine;  Prince  Radolin,  the  German 
Ambassador  to  France;  Excellency  von  Lucanus,  the  Chief  -of  the  Emperor's 
Civil  Cabinet;  Gen  eral  Count  von  Htilsen-Haeseler,  the  Chief  of  the  Emperor's 
Military  Cabinet;  Field  Marshal  von  Plesscn;  Chief  Court  Marshal,  Count 
Zu  Eulenburg;  Lord  High  Chamberlain,  Baron  von  dem  Gnesebeck,  and  the 
Oberstallmeister,  Baron  von  Reischach.  The  dinner  was  on  the  open  terrace 
of  the  Castle  looking  towards  the  Hercules  Heights.  At  its  close  the  Empress 
and  the  ladies  withdrew  into  the  Castle  and  the  Emperor  with  the  gentlemen 
remained  outside.  His  Majesty  arose  from  his  seat  in  the  middle  of  the  table 
and  went  to  one  end  of  it  followed  by  Prince  Biilow,  Prince  Hohenlohe,  Prince 
Radolin  and  Excellency  von  Lucanus.  His  Majesty  directed  me  to  join  the 
group  and,  so  soon  as  we  were  seated,  Co  Chief  of  the  Civil  Cabinet  turned 
to  me  and  said  that  he  was  afraid  that  our  good  friend,  President  Roosevelt, 
unwittingly  did  Europe  an  injury  in  mediating  between  Russia  and  Japan,  since 
this  had  turned  the  whole  force  of  the  Pan-Slavic  program  of  Russia  back 
upon  Europe.  All  present  spoke  of  the  great  peril  to  Middle  Europe  of  this 
change.  Then  both  the  German  Ambassador  to  France  and  the  Governor  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  spoke  discouragingly  of  the  great  increase  of  hostile  feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  French  towards  Germany,  and,  finally,  the  part  that  Great 
Britain  had  played  and  was  playing  in  bringing  about  both  of  these  movements 
was  dwelt  upon  with  great  seriousness  mingled  with  evidences  of  much 
uneasiness.  King  Edward  came  the  next  morning  at  about  ten  o'clock  and 
took  his  departure  at  about  three  in  the  afternoon.  Whether  any  remon- 
strances were  made  to  His  Majesty  in  regard  to  the  great  peril,  which  he,  wit- 
tingly or  unwittingly,  was  helping  to  bring  upon  Middle  Europe,  I  have  never 
known.  It  seemed  to  me,  however,  that  after  that  date  he  modified  consider- 
ably his  diplomatic  activity.  But  he  had  sown  the  seed  in  well  prepared 
ground  and  the  harvest  was  bound  to  come.  The  three  great  forces  making 
for  universal  war  in  Europe,  viz.:  the  Pan-Slavic  program  of  Russia,  the 
"Revanche"  of  France  and  Great  Britain's  commercial  jealousy  of  Germany, 
had  been  by  his  efforts  brought  together.  It  could  not  fail  to  produce  the 
catastrophe.    It  was  only  a  question  of  time. 

The  following  year,  the  year  1908,  saw  the  revolt  of  the  young  Turkish 
party  in  Constantinople  which  forced  from  the  Sultan  the  Constitution  of 
July,  1908.  According  to  this  Constitution  all  the  peoples  under  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Sultan  were  called  upon  to  send  representatives  to  the  Turkish 
Parliament.    Both  Bulgaria  and  Bosnia-Herzegovina  were  nominally  subject 


to  that  sovereignty,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Berlin  Congress  of  the 
Powers  of  1878.  For  thirty  years  Bulgaria  had  been  practically  an  indepen- 
dent State,  and  during  thirty  years  Austro-Hungary  had  poured  millions  upon 
millions  into  Bosnia-Herzegovina,  build'ng  roads,  railroads,  hotels,  hospitals, 
and  schools,  establishing  the  reign  of  law  and  order,  and  changing  the  popula- 
tion from  a  swarm  of  loafers,  beggars  and  bandits  to  a  body  of  hard-working, 
frugal  and  prosperous  citizens.  .What  now  were  Bulgaria  and  Austro-Hungary 
to  do?  Were  they  to  sit  quiet  and  allow  the  restoration  of  the  actual  sover- 
eignty and  government  of  Turkey  in  and  over  Bulgaria  and  Bosnia- Herzego- 
vina? Could  any  rational  human  being  in  the  world  have  expected  or  desired 
that?  They  simply,  on  the  self-same  clay,  viz.:  October  5th,  1908,  renounced 
the  nominal  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan,  Bulgaria  becoming  thereby  an  indepen- 
dent State  and  Bosnia-Herzegovina  remaining  what  it  had  actually  been  since 
1878,  only  with  no  further  nominal  relation  to  the  Turkish  government.  Some 
American  newspapers  have  called  this  the  robbery  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina  by 
Austro-Hungary,  and  have  made  out  Austro-Hungary  to  be  an  aggressor.  I 
have  not  seen,  however,  the  slightest  indication  that  any  of  these  have  had  the 
faintest  conception  of  what  actually  took  place.  Europe  acquiesced  in  it 
without  much  ado.  It  was  said  that  Russia  expressed  dissatisfaction  but  that 
Germany  pacified  her. 

Four  more  years  of  peace  rolled  by,  during  which,  in  spite  of  the  facts  that 
Austro-Hungary  gave  a  local  Constitution  with  representative  institutions  to 
Bosnia-Herzegovina  and  Alsace-Lorraine  was  admitted  to  representation  in 
the  Federal  Council,  as  well  as  the  Reichstag,  of  the  German  Empire,  that  is, 
was  made  substantially  a  State  of  the  Empire,  the  Pan-Slavic  schemes  of 
Russia,  the  French  spirit  of  revenge  and  the  British  commercial  jealousy  grew 
and  developed  and  became  welded  together,  until  the  triple  Entente  became 
virtually  a  triple  alliance  directed  against  the  two  great  States  of  Middle 
Europe. 

Russia  had  now  recovered  from  the  losses  of  the  Japanese  War  and  the 
internal  anarchy  which  followed  it;  France  had  perfected  her  military  organi- 
zation; Turkey  was  now  driven  by  the  allied  Balkan  States  out  of  the  calcula- 
tion as  an  Anti-Russian  Power;  Bulgaria,  Austro-Hungary's  ally,  was  now 
completely  exhausted  by  the  war  with  Turkey  and  that  with  her  Balkan 
Allies,  now  became  enemies;  and  Great  Britain  was  in  dire  need  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  divert  the  mind  of  her  people  away  from  the  internal  questions 
which  were  threatening  to  disrupt  her  Constitution.  The  practiced  ear  could 
discern  the  buzz  of  the  machinery  lifting  the  hammer  to  strike  the  hour  of 
Armageddon.  And  it  struck.  The  foul  murder  of  the  heir  of  the  Hapsburgers 
set  the  civilized  world  in  horror  and  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  in  mourn- 
ing. In  tracing  the  ramifications  of  the  treacherous  plot,  the  lines  were  found 
to  run  to  Belgrade.  And  when  Austro-Hungary  demanded  inquiry  and  action 
by  a  tribunal  in  which  representatives    from    Austro-Hungary    should  sit, 


Servia  repelled  the  demand  as  inconsistent  with  her  dignity.  Believing  that 
inquiry  and  action  by  Servia  alone  would  be  no  inquiry  and  no  action,  Austro- 
Hungary  felt  obliged  to  take  the  chastisement  of  the  criminals  and  their 
abettors  into  its  own  hands. 

Then  Russia  intervened  to  stay  the  hand  of  Austro-Hungary  and  asked  the 
German  Emperor  to  mediate  between  Austro-Hungary  and  Servia.  The  Em- 
peror undertook  the  task.  But  while  in  the  midst  of  it  he  learned  that  Russia 
was  mobilizing  troops  upon  his  own  border.  He  immediately  requested 
Russia  that  this  should  cease,  but  without  avail.  He  protested  again  with  the 
like  result.  Finally,  at  midnight  on  the  31st  of  July,  His  Ambassador  at 
St.  Petersburg  laid  the  demand  before  the  Russian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs 
that  the  Russian  mobilization  must  cease  within  twelve  hours,  otherwise 
Germany  would  be  obliged  to  mobilize. 

At  the  same  time  the  Emperor  directed  His  Ambassador  in  Paris  to  inquire 
of  the  French  government  whether,  in  case  of  war  between  Germany  and 
Russia,  France  would  remain  neutral.  The  time  given  expired  without  any 
satisfactory  explanation  or  reply  from  Russia  and  without  any  guarantee  or 
assurance  from  France.  The  Federal  Council  of  the  German  Empire,  consist- 
ing of  representatives  from  the  twenty-five  States  and  the  Imperial  Territory 
of  Alsace  Lorraine,  then  authorized  the  declaration  of  war  against  Russia,  which 
declaration  applied,  according  to  the  sound  principle  of  international  juris- 
prudence,  to  all  her  allies  refusing  to  give  guarantee  of  their  neutrality. 

As  France  could  move  faster  than  Russia  the  Germans  turned  the  force 
of  their  arms  upon  her.  They  undertook  to  reach  her  by  way  of  what  they 
supposed  to  be  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  These  lay  through  the  neutral 
States  of  Belgium  and  Luxemburg.  They  claimed  that  France  had  already 
violated  the  neutrality  of  both  by  invasion  and  by  the  flying  of  their  war  air- 
ships over  them,  and  they  marched  their  columns  into  both. 

Belgium  resisted.  The  Germans  offered  to  guarantee  the  independence 
and  integrity  of  Belgium  and  indemnify  her  for  all  loss  or  injury,  if  she  would 
not  further  resist  the  passage  of  German  troops  over  her  soil.  She  still  refused 
and  turned  to  Great  Britain. 

Great  Britain  now  intervened  and  in  the  negotiations  with  Germany  de- 
manded as  the  price  of  her  neutrality  that  Germany  should  not  use  her  Navy 
against  France  and  should  desist  from  her  military  movements  through 
Belgium,  and  when  the  Germans  asked  to  be  assured  that  Great  Britain  herself 
would  respect  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  and  remain  neutral  throughout  the 
entire  war  on  the  basis  of  the  fulfillment  of  her  requirements  by  Germany,  the 
British  government  made  no  satisfactory  reply,  but  declared  war  on  Germany. 

And  so  we  have  the  allignment,  Germany,  Austria  and  probably  Bulgaria 
on  one  side;  Russia,  Servia,  Montenegro,  Belgium,  France  and  England  on 
the  other;  and  rivers  of  blood  have  already  flowed.  And  we  stand  gaping  at 
each  other,  and  each  is  asking  the  others  who  did  it?    Whose  is  the  respon- 


sibility,  and  what  will  be  the  outcome?  Now,  if  I  have  not  already  answered 
the  former  question,  I  shall  not  try  to  answer  it.  T  shall  leave  each  one,  in 
view  of  the  account  I  have  given,  to  settle  that  question  with  his  own  judg- 
ment and  conscience.  I  will  only  say  that,  as  for  myself,  I  thank  John  Morley 
and  John  Burns,  the  Man  of  Letters  and  the  Man  of  Labor,  that  they  have 
rent  the  veil  of  diplomatic  hypocrisy  and  have  washed  their  hands  clean  from 
the  stain  of  this  blunder-crime. 

Finally,  as  to  the  outcome,  not  much  can  yet  be  said.  There  is  nothing 
so  idle  as  prophecy  and  I  do  not  like  to  indulge  in  it.  Whether  the  Giant  of 
Middle  Europe  will  be  able  to  break  the  bonds,  which  in  the  last  ten  years  have 
been  wound  about  him  and  under  whose  smarting  cut  he  is  now  writhing,  or 
the  fetters  will  be  riveted  tighter,  cannot  easily  be  foretold.  Rut  assuming  the 
one  or  the  other,  we  may  speculate  with  something  more  of  probable  accuracy 
regarding  the  political  situation  which  will  result.  The  triumph  of  Germany- 
Austro-Hungary  can  never  be  so  complete  as  to  make  any  changes 
in  the  present  map  of  Europe.  All  that  that  could  effect  would  be  the  momen- 
tary abandonment  of  the  Russian  Pan-Slavic  program,  the  relegation  to  dor- 
mancy of  the  French  "Revanche"  and  the  stay  of  Great  Britain's  hand  from  the 
destruction  of  German  commerce.  On  the  other  hand,  the  triumph  of  Great 
Britain-Russia-France  cannot  fail  to  give  Russia  the  mastery  of  the  Continent 
of  Europe  and  restore  Great  Britain  to  her  sovereignty  over  the  seas.  These 
two  great  Powers,  who  now  already  between  them  possess  almost  the  half  of 
the  whole  world,  would  then,  indeed,  control  the  destinies  of  the  earth. 

Well  may  we  draw  back  in  dismay  before  such  a  consummation.  The 
"rattle  of  the  sabre"  would  then  be  music  to  our  ears  in  comparison  with  the 
crack  of  the  Kossack's  knout  and  the  clanking  of  Siberian  chains,  while  the 
burden  of  taxation  which  we  would  be  obliged  to  suffer  in  order  to  create  and 
maintain  the  vast  navy  and  army  necessary  for  the  defense  of  our  territory  and 
commerce  throughout  the  world  against  these  gigantic  Powers  with  their 
Oriental  ally,  Japan,  would  sap  our  wealth,  endanger  our  prosperity  and 
threaten  the  very  existence  of  republican  institutions. 

This  is  no  time  for  shallow  thought  or  flippant  speech.  In  a  public  sense 
it  is  the  most  serious  moment  of  our  lives.  Let  us  not  be  swayed  in  our 
judgment  by  prejudice  or  minor  considerations.  Men  and  women  like  our- 
selves are  suffering  and  dying  for  what  they  believe  to  be  the  right,  and  the 
world  is  in  tears.  Let  us  wait  and  watch  patiently  and  hope  sincerely  that  all 
this  agony  is  a  great  labor-pain  of  history  and  that  there  shall  be  born  through 
it  a  new  era  of  prosperity,  happiness  and  righteousness  for  all  mankind. 
Athenwood,  Newport,  R.  I.,  August  17.  1914. 

JOHN  W.  BURGESS. 


«^^*i2    Press  of  Geo.  J.  Speyer  &  Co.,  183  William  Street,  New  York  City. 


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